CONTACT:     M. CASEY MATTOX, 703-642-1070 x3505

CHRISTIAN STUDENT GROUP SUES SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY FOR VIOLATING FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

CARBONDALE, IL – The Christian Legal Society chapter at Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Law sued school officials yesterday for revoking the chapter’s registered status because the chapter requires its members and officers to affirm the group’s religious beliefs.

Southern Illinois University School of Law permits students to form and register student organizations.  SIU then provides benefits to them including access to space on law school bulletin boards, email access on the law school’s list-serve, eligibility for certain funding, access to storage space, listings in official School of Law publications and on the law school’s website, and use of university buildings, property and facilities for organization meetings and events.

CLS is a nationwide association of Christian lawyers, law students, law professors, and judges that maintains attorney and law student chapters across the country.  All CLS members must sign a Statement of Faith, indicating that the member holds certain Christian viewpoints that are commonly regarded as orthodox. 

The Christian Legal Society (CLS) chapter at SIU accordingly requires its voting members and officers to sign and affirm the CLS Statement of Faith and to endeavor to live their lives in a manner consistent with the statement.  Although individuals who do not adhere to the CLS Statement of Faith are not eligible to be members or officers, they are welcome to attend chapter meetings and other events. 

In February, a university official informed the CLS chapter that a student had filed a complaint with the university against the chapter.  The complaint claimed that the chapter’s membership and leadership policies violate a university policy requiring student organizations to adhere to all appropriate federal or state nondiscrimination laws.   

The university revoked the chapter’s registered status on March 25 after reviewing the chapter’s membership and leadership policies.  The university claimed the chapter’s policies violated the “Southern Illinois University-Carbondale [SIUC] Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Policy” and a Policy of the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees requiring that all recognized student organizations “adher[e] to all appropriate federal or state laws concerning nondiscrimination and equal opportunity.” 

A letter from the university to the chapter also stated that “as a result of your student organization’s noncompliance with University policy, the SIUC Chapter of the Christian Legal Society is no longer a recognized student organization at the SIU School of Law.  Effective immediately, your group will no longer be permitted to have a bulletin board in the School of Law’s Lesar Law Building and your organization will be removed from the School of Law’s web-site and in all future School of Law publications where student organizations are listed.  You must cease referring to your organization as the ‘SIUC Chapter’ of’ the Christian Legal Society so that you do not mislead the public about your affiliation.” 

The chapter states in its lawsuit that it does not employ anyone, it has no employment policies, and the chapter’s membership and leadership policies do not violate any federal or state laws concerning nondiscrimination and/or equal opportunity.  The lawsuit also claims the university violated the chapter’s First Amendment rights of expressive association, free speech and free exercise of religion. 

The case is Christian Legal Society v. James E. Walker, et al. , and it is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.  The plaintiffs are not formally serving the complaint on the university immediately.  Before moving forward with the litigation, the chapter is giving the university ten days to reinstate its recognized status and to agree to allow the chapter to select members and leaders based on their religious beliefs.  If the university fails to comply with the chapter’s demands, the chapter will serve the complaint, and the university will be required to file a response.

“Religious student organizations, like all other student organizations, should be permitted to choose members and officers who agree with the organization’s beliefs,” said M. Casey Mattox, Litigation Counsel for the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom.  “Our nation’s law schools are not immune from the First Amendment’s protections of the rights of association, speech, and exercise of religious belief.”

The Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom, the Alliance Defense Fund, and local counsel David O. Edwards of Giffin, Winning, Cohen  & Bodewes, P.C. represent the CLS chapter, and the Alliance Defense Fund is generously supporting the Center’s work on this case.